SCHOOL-CROWDING SOLUTION OFFERED

V. Dion Haynes, Tribune Staff WriterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

A task force of Latino state lawmakers demanded Wednesday that the Chicago Public Schools and the legislature tackle the system's classroom overcrowding crisis, primarily by working together to produce an additional $600 million for new schools.

Although others say the problem goes beyond money, Sen. Jesus Garcia, Rep. Ray Frias, Rep. Miguel del Valle and several other Chicago Democrats called for the schools to be allowed to sell more bonds, with legislative approval to exceed current borrowing limits.

They also called for lifting other restrictions that have caused delays in school construction.

While expressing the belief that the state should have the primary responsibility for financing school construction, the task force members said the political reality is that that won't happen.

"I couldn't in good conscience ask my fellow General Assembly members for more money without the board showing some accountability," Frias added. "They need to show they are more responsive to catering to school needs."

The task force's borrowing plan would involve voter approval for the school board to sell additional bonds or do it through the School Finance Authority, the district's oversight agency. In either case, the General Assembly would have to agree to the plan since the school board and finance authority are already nearing mandated borrowing limits.

There is little argument that a combination of aging, neglected buildings and a growing population in the past decade has caused a space crunch throughout the city. In extreme instances, teachers have conducted classes in closets, corridors and even stairwells.

But school officials, who in the past put a $1 billion price tag on solving present and future school crowding, reacted negatively to the task force suggestions that a system strapped for operating cash go on a borrowing spree.

"I don't believe we should be in the borrowing business when we don't have the means to repay it," said school board member Charles Curtis, chairman of the facilities committee.

"It should be the state's responsibility to fund education and capital (improvements)," he said. "To recommend that we borrow when we can't even get $300 million to open schools next year is ridiculous."

The task force members are expected to formally unveil their study of classroom overcrowding at a news conference Tuesday in the James R. Thompson Center. The report, which will include testimony from two hearings held last month, contains 18 specific recommendations for expediting the school construction process.

The task force members said they will be joined by a coalition of parents whose children attend overcrowded schools, in pressuring the school system and General Assembly to move on the construction issue.

According to school officials, 173 schools-nearly one-third of the buildings in the system-are classified as overcrowded or severely overcrowded.

Although $600 million in bonds has been sold between 1990 and 1993 to fund the construction of 25 schools, only one building has been completed. The bulk of the funds, which can only be spent on construction, remain in bank accounts.

The Public Building Commission, the agency in charge of overseeing construction, blames the delay in building more schools on a lack of adequate sites.

The legislative task force is calling for school officials to submit a capital development plan outlining the district's building needs to the General Assembly by March, not September, when school officials have said the plan will be ready.

"I would hope we could fold Chicago into a statewide plan to address crowded facilities," said Sen. Arthur Berman (D-Chicago), who is working with the task force. "If they wait until September (to complete the capital development plan), it's possible other districts will have relief and Chicago won't."